


The Team Saga

by FallenQueen2



Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF, Teamwork, Yaoi, parent talks, protective
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 05:59:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5994055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallenQueen2/pseuds/FallenQueen2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The adventures of teams 7, 8, 10 and Gai. Made up of drabbles and arc's. From childhood to my future of Shippuden.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tora The Demon Cat

**Author's Note:**

> Visit my tumblr, don't be shy!  
> http://fallenqueen2.tumblr.com

_Team 7- Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi._

"Target sighted." Sakura reported in a hushed tone into her microphone.

"On three and Naruto, don't jump ahead." Kakashi ordered quietly.

"Fine, fine. My scratches from last time just healed." Naruto huffed.

"How does this cat always keep getting away, this is the third time in this month we had to track Tora down." Sasuke got into his position.

"We aren't the only team who has gotten this mission." Kakashi revealed. "Now, focus. One… Two… Three."

Four shadows jumped out of their hiding places, all-converging onto the target. Also known as Tora the demon cat. Said cat let out a shriek as all it's hair stood on end and went to leap away.

"Not this time!" Naruto shouted and created the needed hand sign. "Shadow clone justu!" Numerous Naruto's appeared and helped surround Tora, blocking all exits.

"Good idea Naruto!" Sakura pumped her fist in the air as the Naruto clones successfully managed to hold down Tora, long enough for Kakashi to pull out a scroll and break the seal releasing a cat carrier. The clones struggled against the clawing cat and finally a few minutes later threw the cat into the carrier and Sasuke latched the lock.

"Phew, that was a workout." Sakura wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. "You were great Sasuke-kun!" She said dreamily at her raven teammate.

"I did all the work." Naruto grumbled.

"And for that, you get some ramen on me." Kakashi smiled at his blonde student.

"Ramen? This is the best ending to a mission ever dattebayo!" Naruto jumped into the air with a huge grin on his face.

"Now let's get this cat back to its rightful owner, well until Tora gets loose again." Sasuke nudged the cage with his foot.

"Great idea Sasuke-kun." Sakura agreed happily.

"As long as I get my ramen, right Kakashi-Sensei." Naruto looked in the direction of his white haired sensei and frowned. "Where did he disappear too now?" He ran his hands through his spiky blonde hair annoyed.

"Where does he ever go?" Sakura rolled her eyes at their sensei.

"Hn." Sasuke crossed his arms.

"I just wanted my ramen!" Naruto cried out with a waterfall of tears falling from his eyes as he sank onto the ground.

* * *

_Team 8- Kiba, Hinta, Shino and Kurenai._

"Why do we have to do this stupid mission anyway?" Kiba grumbled and Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Because it is the mission we were given Kiba, so stop complaining." Shino said, adjusting his glasses.

"Is it r-really that b-bad Kiba-kun?" Hintaa asked her teammate.

"YES! Why out of all the missions is it this one?" Kiba whined, his sharp canine teeth poking out from his upper lip.

"We just have to catch a cat Kiba." Kurenai their sensei placed her hands on her hips as she looked at her team.

"Exactly! I'm from a clan of canines… Dogs! There is a reason for that!" Kiba tried to explain as Akamaru scaled his best friend and settled on his shoulders. "Cats are our natural enemies and this cat is the worst! It's Tora the demon cat!"

"Tora the demon cat?" Kurenai raised an eyebrow.

"He got it from Naruto, last time his team went after the cat." Shino explained and Hinta went pink just from the mention of Naruto and Kurenai smiled kindly at the only girl on her team, young love was so cute at this stage.

"When was that?" Kurenai was curious.

"A-about two w-weeks ago." Hinata stammered out.

"Didn't take Tora long to get out again then." Kurenai mused.

"There is something wrong with that cat." Kiba grumbled.

"Let's just find this cat and finish this mission." Kurenai rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"Fine, fine. Akamaru, lets find this damn cat." Kiba looked at his best friend, who wrinkled his nose as he caught the cat's scent. Akamaru barked and took off and the others took off after Akamaru. It didn't take long for Akamaru to track down Tora and the genin's surrounded the area while Tora and Akamaru stared and growled/hissed at each other.

"How long should we let this go on for?" Kurenai asked Kiba who was also watching the cat VS dog showdown.

"Give Akamaru a few more moments and we are done this mission." Kiba said with a triumphant smile on his lips.

"What does he mean Hinata?" Kurenai looked at the young girl.

"H-he means… Akamaru h-hates c-cats." Hinata said with a smile on her lips.

Akamaru and Tora at the same time launched themselves into the air and with a flurry of claws and teeth. The two animals landed on their feet and it was silent for a few moments before Tora hissed and fell to the ground and Akamaru trotted over to Kiba with a very pleased look on his face.

"Huh." Kurenai looked on impressed as Shino collected the unconscious but surprisingly unharmed cat.

"So are we done here? I need to give Akamaru a bath to get rid of the cat scent." Kiba asked as Hinata petted Akamaru's head with a small smile on her lips.

"Well I guess we are done here… Go ahead Kiba and Akamaru good job." Kurenai also petted Akamaru who yapped happily at all the attention.

"Show off." Kiba muttered and it sounded like Akamaru was laughing in his own way as the two females of team 8 petted him.

* * *

_Team 10- Shikamaru, Ino, Choji and Asuma._

"Catching a cat? Seriously?" Choji looked up from his bag of chips.

"Yes Choji, we have to catch Tora." Asuma said from the cigarette in his mouth.

"Man how can one cat be so troublesome?" Shikamaru rubbed his neck as he bit back a yawn.

"It's not just one cat! It's Tora the demon cat!" Ino exclaimed giving her team a look.

"Formation 5." Shikamaru said lazily.

"Fine, fine." Choji nodded and Ino heaved a sigh but agreed.

"Formation 5?" Asuma looked at his team.

"Watch and learn Asuma-Sensei." Ino gave their sensei a victory sign.

"Okay…?" Asuma leaned against a nearby tree lighting up a new cigarette after stamping the old one out.

"Alright, target in sight." Shikamaru said into the microphone about five minutes later. "Shadow possession justu... Successful" He made the needed sign and his shadow stretch out and caught the cat as it sauntered by. The cat hissed as it tried to move but failed, as Shikamaru wasn't moving.

"My turn, get ready Choji!" Ino made her sign.

"Got it ready Ino!" Choji reported.

"Alright! Mind transfer justu!" She succeeded in her justu and Shikamaru caught her soulless body. Shikamaru released his shadow justu and Tora who was now taken over by Ino sauntered over to Shikamaru and glared up at him, hissing loudly at him.

"I know, I know." Shikamaru rolled his eyes, being able to tell what the blonde was trying to say. "Just go to Choji already."

Ino huffed, sticking her tail up into the air and held her head up high as she waltzed past Asuma, whacking his shin with her tail before hissing at Choji before she crawled inside the cat carrier. Ino hissed a few more times and the cat fell onto the floor of the cat carrier unconscious.

"Ugh." Ino moaned from her body as Shikamaru helped her sit up. "I hate cats and Shikamaru I hate you for making me do that!"

"No matter how much you hated it Ino, it was a very good plan. I can't wait to tell the other sensei's how easily and quickly my team caught Tora the demon cat." Asuma said with a wide grin on his bearded face.

* * *

_Team Gai- Neji, Tenten, Lee and Gai._

"I understand this is a mission but… Really?" Neji crossed his arms, glancing at TenTen.

"I know Neji, I know. I have a plan, keep Gai-Sensei and Lee busy." TenTen grinned at Neji who just grunted and she swung off the tree branch the two were crouched on. Neji closed his eyes and his Byakugan activated.

"Gai-Sensei, Lee. I saw Tora over by the front gates." Neji radioed the two green beasts of Konoha.

"Good eye Neji! Lee and I shall head over there right away!" Gai radioed back.

"Yosh! Excellent job Neji!" Lee agreed.

 _'I bought you some time TenTen, better do what you are going to do fast.'_ Neji thought to himself as he tracked TenTen's charka.

TenTen was on her stomach under a bush watching silently as Tora the demon cat crept by, looking proud. TenTen silently rose upwards, pulling out a scroll and silently scaled a nearby tree. She picked her place perfectly and when Tora stopped moving to lick its fur, purring contently. TenTen opened her scroll and with a wave of her hand over the seals her weapons appeared and with perfect aim she threw them at Tora. The demon cat didn't stand a chance.

TenTen looked down at her work with a pleased look on her face.

"Target is captured." TenTen reported.

"Excellent work TenTen!" Gai's loud voice rang in her ear and she winced. Neji was at her side in a few moments and looked down at the scene before him.

"So that was your plan… An interesting way to go about it." Neji commented, crossing his arms.

Soon Lee and Gai joined them and also stared at the scene before them.

Tora the demon cat was standing perfectly unharmed but totally trapped off by the huge circle of weapons, going up high and tightly knit together leaving no opening.

"Yosh, the cat has been captured! Perfect job TenTen!" Lee gave her a victory sign and she chuckled at it a bit.

"Amazing aim like always TenTen." Gai smiled brightly at his student with stars in his eyes.

"Thank you Gai-Sensei." TenTen smiled back.

Neji just looked at the cat, wondering how or why this demon cat kept running away and why on earth did the genin kept needing to capture it. Neji sighed and decided to give up on that train of thought, something's are better left unanswered.


	2. Meet the Parents

Team 7- Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno, Minato Namizake and Kushina Uzumaki, Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha.

Kakashi had faced down a lot of scary things in his lifetime, but nothing could compare to an overprotective set of parents and the Haruno's were the definition of that. Sakura clearly got her temper from her mother while her pink hair surprisingly had come from her father who had dark pink hair styled in a spiked star and they both were currently staring the copy-nin down.

"So… You are Kakashi Hatake, our daughters sensei." Mebuki said simply, in a way that from his time spent with Sakura Kakashi knew this could go one of two ways. Either Mebuki would be calm and collected or she would flip her lid and shout loudly.

"Yes I am…" Kakashi decided to play it safe.

"We don't want to come off as overprotective parents or anything Kakashi." Kizashi said in a more relax tone that showed he didn't want any trouble. These two made an interesting pair, Kakashi mused.

"We just want to make sure our baby girl is safe hands." Kizashi finished his thought, clasping his hands together.

"We know all about your reputation and how skilled you are, but if ANYTHING happens to our little girl…" Mebuki trailed off ominously, a dangerous aura coming off of her like waves.

"I will do everything in my power, even if it costs me my life. I will make sure your daughter is safe." Kakashi swore to the set of parents standing in front of him, trying to keep his composure.

"Good. Glad we got that cleared up." Mebuki said cheerfully, her dangerous aura from before disappeared in an instant.

"Have a good day Kakashi!" Kizashi bowed to the other ninja before trailing after his wife as the blonde had already started to walk away.

Kakashi let out a breath of relief; parents were the scariest of all the enemies the copy-nin ever had to face.

Kakashi just started walking down the street when he suddenly got a chill, one that felt familiar to him. The only chill he got when Minato-Sensei was nearby and feeling overprotective. Of course Kakashi knew that Naruto was the son of his old sensei and his beautiful wife Kushina Uzumaki. He looked up, half expecting to see the ghost of the duo staring down at him. Instead he looked up and looked at the face of his sensei carved into the rock face above the village.

"I'll take care of him sensei, no need to haunt me." Kakashi whispered into the wind, that swirled around him like the presence of the duo were satisfied with his promise.

Kakashi kept walking; he passed by one of the rivers and spotted Sasuke sitting by the edge, looking off towards the horizon. Kakashi blinked his eye as he swore he saw two figures standing by his shoulders. Kakashi rubbed his eye but the figure remained there and he swore that Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha were standing watch over their youngest son. He also swore that the two turned their heads and stared right through his soul.

"Got it." Kakashi made an 'ok' motion with his hands and the two ghostly figures nodded and turned back to watch their son and Kakashi got out of there fast. He rubbed his head thinking that he needed a drink. No way anyone was going to believe him if he told them this! Best keep it to him self for the time being.

Team 8: Tsume Inuzuka, Hiashi Hyuga and Shibi Aburame

Kurenai looked calm on the outside, but on the inside she was nervous. She had every reason to be. Tsume Inuzuka on her own was a very intimating ninja but with the HUGE black and white partner Kuromaru sitting next to her at attention was very off putting. Also having the head of the Hyuga clan and the head of the Aburame clan sitting next to Tsume all three of them (four if you count Kuromaru) staring at her intently and searchingly.

"So, you're my son's new sensei." Tsume spoke up breaking the silence between the people in the group.

"Yes." Kurenai said firmly. "They all are amazing kids with tons of potential."

"Hmm…" Tsume inspected the woman in front of her. "I like you! Kiba will learn a lot from you! He needs strong female role models in his life."

'Like he doesn't already have two.' Kurenai thought to herself, keeping a smile on his lips.

'Thank you Tsume." Kurenai bowed her head and tried to keep the smile on her face as Tsume barked out a laugh.

"How is my daughter doing on a team of boys?" Hiashi asked worry hidden in his eyes.

"She is flourishing. At first she was shy and withdrawn but Shino and Kiba brought her out of her shell. She will be a fine ninja." Kurenai said looking at the head of the Hyuga clan.

"Good, good… I am glad…" Hiashi mumbled and Kurenai smiled at the head of the clan. He really did care for his daughter, even if he didn't show it too often.

"I'm guessing you want to know about Shino don't you Shibi?" Kurenai looked over and Shibi adjusted his glasses, having spent a ton of time with Shino the raven-haired woman knew that meant a few different things, but in this case it meant 'yes'.

"He is quiet, but having Hinta and Kiba on his team he is opening up. He is evolving like his beloved bugs." Kurenai smiled and Shibi nodded and his lips turned upwards in a smile that his huge jacket covered but Kurenai saw it.

"I know why you all are here." Kurenai spoke up.

"Do you now?" Tsume showed her fangs as she grinned.

"Yes I do. You want to make sure no harm will come to your children and I can promise you that I will do everything in my power to ensure nothing happens to them." Kurenai looked up at the three people in front of her with steel glinting in her crimson eyes.

"Good, I knew there was a reason I liked you!" Tsume grinned once again.

"Hm." Shibi and Hiashi nodded their heads and Kurenai just looked at them. She liked their kids better.

Team 10- Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka and Choza Akimichi.

Asuma Sarutobi was trying to appear calm as he smoked, but having the fathers of his team staring him down was not helping his nerves.

"So Asuma Sarutobi, son of our hokage and one of the twelve guardian ninja. You are the one who is going to be training our children." Shikaku rattled off information about Asuma calmly.

"Yes I am." Asuma said, taking a long drag on his cigarette.

"We care deeply for our children you know that right?" Choza said crossing his arms.

"Of course." Asuma wasn't sure where this was going.

"And if anyone hurts our babies, we will not be pleased." Inoichi went on, flexing his fingers.

"I would never let anyone hurt my students." Asuma swore seriously, putting out his cigarette and everything. "I would rather lay down my life then let any harm befall them."

"Good to know. You are a good man Asuma Sarutobi and I expect our children will learn great things from you." Shikaku nodded his head.

"Just know this… The justu our children know are nothing in comparison to the justu's we have mastered." Inoichi said, reminding Asuma that his clan was known for mind justu's, the Nara clan can kill with a shadow and the Akimichi clan can expand and easily crush people with their bodies.

"Understood." Asuma swallowed hard.

"Good, perhaps you should invite Shikamaru to play Shogi with you. I think he would like that." Shikaku suggested and Asuma nodded, having planned on asking the young genius to play against him anyway.

Team Gai- I don't think Lee has parents, TenTen has no backstory and Neji's father is dead… So I am going to have to skip this team for this chapter…. SORRY!


	3. Protection Arc: Females

Team 7- Sakura Haruno.

"Well this is just a great mission." Sakura said to herself annoyed. She glanced through the bushes she was hidden under. Her sensei, Naruto and Sasuke were all trapped, slightly conscious and tied to three separate trees in a nearby clearing. A group of missing nin's was surrounding a small fire, not really paying attention to their prisoners. She sighed mentally and made a few hand signs and a good ten clones of herself appeared, with a nod from the real Sakura they moved into position.

'I can't believe I'm about to use this jutsu…' Sakura thought miserably to herself. "Sexy transformation jutsu!" A tall, busty woman with a chest that can rival Tsunade's and butt length pink hair appeared covered in mist. The transformed Sakura could feel her pride dropping away, but she needed to save her team. She once again sighed mentally before she stepped forward, purposely tripping and falling into the clearing with a high pitched squeal. All the ninja were on their feet in a second but froze when they saw the pretty naked woman in front of them as she sat back and looked up at them with watery eyes.

"I… I'm so sorry, but I was just bathing in a nearby hot spring… and when I got out some sort of animal ate all my clothes! Could one of you handsome men help me out?" Sakura asked, placing her hand by her mouth using her sweetest tone of voice.

"Uh… Uh… Uh…" The missing nin stammered not being able to take their eyes off the woman in front of them and some started to look for spare clothes but kept tripping over their own feet and each other.

'Men.' Sakura huffed internally. Meanwhile her normally dressed Sakura clones were untying her team and some of the others ones were planting paper bombs.

Sakura looked over the group of men and saw her clones dragging her teammates off to a safe distance silently.

"Oh thank you!" Sakura giggled in a high-pitched tone of voice.

"Our… Our pleasure."

"But now I have to go." Sakura winked and disappeared in a puff of smoke, as she turned back to normal and disappeared from the campsite and set off the paper bombs. She smirked as she heard the missing nin's shouts but she and her clones kept going with her teammates in tow. Once they were in a safe place, her clones placed her teammates down and disappeared. Sakura breathing heavily sat next to Naruto and Sasuke, keeping her sense open as she waited for her teammates to wake.

When they finally did wake, they asked what happened and how Sakura got them free. She refused to tell them she had to use Naruto's sexy transformation jutsu, so she just told them she used clones and trickery to win the day. Kakashi gave her a look and she could tell he knew, but when he pressed his index finger to his lips she knew he wouldn't tell her teammates. She felt feelings of protective finally leave her body and she slumped backwards against a nearby tree trunk.

"If that was like being a parent, I am never having kids." She muttered to herself, getting confused looks from Naruto and Sasuke but she just laughed and waved it off.

Team 8: Hinata Hyuga.

Hinata was walking towards were she had planned to meet Kiba, Akamaru and Shino for lunch. She was looking forward to being around her teammates for the rest of the afternoon; she was just around the corner from the park she and the boys arranged to meet at. She just turned the corner, she froze at the sight before her and scurried back behind the corner and watched with confusion on her face.

Some of the members of the Hyuga clan who were assigned to protect her were standing with her team. The group did not look pleased and from the snippets she could hear it wasn't good either. She couldn't just stand back and listen to this because she had to do something. Hinata left her hiding space from behind the wall and she marched towards the four people in front of her.

"Kiba, Shino!" She waved her hand in greeting, calling their names louder than she usually would.

"Hinata?" Kiba sounded shocked as the Hyuga clan's heiress came striding over.

"Lady Hinta!" The two Hyuga clan members bowed deeply to the heiress.

"What is going on here?" Hinta asked trying to sound calm. She forced her stuttering to stop because this was no time to stammer.

"We were just talking with your teammates…" One of the Hyuga ninja's said.

"Really? What about? I mean I heard some of your remarks and saying horrible things about Kiba and Shino's families and their skills is not something I find you should be talking about." Hinata said with an edge in her voice, anger overcoming her stutter.

"Lady Hinata! We meant nothing by it…" They bowed their heads low.

"I hope not. If it wasn't for their families and their own skills I would be dead many times over." Hinata said seriously.

"That's a bit…" Kiba started.

"No it's not Kiba. I mean it." Hinata interrupted and Shino adjusted his glasses. "Now please leave my team and I alone, we have a great afternoon planned."

"Yes Lady Hinata." The two bowed their heads and quickly scurried off.

"Hinata that was…" Kiba trailed off in awe.

"You g-guys are more my f-family than a-anyone e-else." Hinata fiddled with her fingers.

"Awe we love you too Hina." Kiba wrapped his arms around the purple haired girl, hugging her. "Shino loves you too, he just doesn't say it."

Shino just hummed his agreement to Kiba's statement and Hinata felt her face go red.

"T-Thank you." She bowed her head slightly.

"Come one, let's have a great afternoon!" Kiba pumped his fist in the air and Akamaru barked before jumping up and settling in Hinata's arms.

"Hmpf, lazy." Kiba huffed at the sight and Hinata just giggled as Akamaru showed his love by licking her face.

Team 10: Ino Yamanaka

Ino was looking happily across the table at her date. He wasn't a ninja but still very good-looking and so far he was great company and made the blonde feel very special. She couldn't discuss her team or her training as he was very well removed from it all, hell he didn't even know who her teammates were. Dinner was going well, dessert just came and Ino fondly thought of what Choji would say to the piles of ice cream that sat between her and her date and gave a silent giggle.

"I'm having a wonderful time." Ino gushed as she ate a spoonful of the ice cream.

"I'm glad." Her date smiled before his eyes darted over to the window and he shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Ino asked, looking over at the window and grinned at the sight of Shikamaru and Choji walking along, Choji's hand in a bag of chips as per normal and Shikamaru's hands in his pockets as per normal.

"Those two…" Her date started, still watching them as they stopped to talk to Kiba, Shino and Hinata who was carrying Akamaru.

"What about them?" Ino couldn't help but feel unnerved by her date's tone of voice.

"I bet they are useless ninja's. One is too lazy to do anything and the other one is a fat ass. One real punch they both are down, how pathetic." The boy laughed and Ino felt her body tense up as rage spiked through her core.

"How dare you." She whispered before glaring at him with fire in her pure blue eyes. "You know nothing about them or how they fight, you would be lucky to get away with your limbs intact."

"How would you know?" He laughed, not picking up the killing intent flowing from the girl across from him.

"Because they are on my team you pathetic excuse of a human being!" She roared, rising to her feet. "Not to mention they are my best friends since we were born!"

She grabbed the bowl of ice cream and slammed it down on his head violently. His mouth opened in a perfect 'O' as ice cream dripped down his face and he fell backwards out of his chair in shock from the bowl hitting him on the head.

"Be thankful we are in public, but if I ever run across you again… I will make sure you leave with some limbs missing." She said harshly before turning on her heel, striding past a stunned waiter who had the same sundae as she had ordered. She grabbed it off the tray, along with the three spoons sticking out of it.

"He'll pay for everything." She called over her shoulder and left the restaurant, seeing Shikamaru and Choji walking down the road, their backs to them.

"Shika! Choji!" She called out, hurrying to catch up with them. They both turned part way and looked surprised to see the blonde running towards them carrying a huge sundae.

"Ino?" Shikamaru asked, surprised.

"Hey guys!" She grinned, panting slightly as she caught up with them.

"Is that ice cream?" Choji asked, drool starting to form in the corner of his mouth.

"Yup, ice cream for the three of us." She grinned, holding up the sundae. "Come on, let's go cloud watching!"

"You want to cloud watch? What happened to your date?" Shikamaru asked, mind trying to figure out what was going on.

"He's a royal jerk, no one disses my best friends in the world and gets away with it!" Ino huffed, handing the other two a spoon each.

"You left your date because he… Insulted us?" Shikamaru asked amazed, even Choji stopped his spoon half way to the sundae to look at her.

"Of course! You guys are my brothers, there is no way I was going to stay around that creep any longer if he insults you two. Honestly, what kind of girl do you take me for?" She asked insulted, eating a spoonful of the ice cream.

"Ino…" Choji said quietly.

"So troublesome…" Shikamaru smiled.

"Now are you going to help me eat this ice cream or is it all for me? Maybe Asuma-Sensei would like to split it with me." Ino asked, spoon in her mouth as she started to walk away, ponytail swaying.

"Wha? Wait for me!" Choji ran after her and Shikamaru followed behind with his smile still on his lips. He couldn't wait to tell Asuma-Sensei what Ino did, he knew his Sensei would never believe it or just smile knowingly.

Team Gai- TenTen

"Of all the stupid idiotic things…" TenTen grumbled as she zipped up the side of her dress.

"Those three had to go and get them selves kidnapped by a beauty queen!"

Somehow Neji, Lee and Gai-Sensei had gotten separated from her on their mission and next thing TenTen knew the woman who found them was refusing to give them back. Neji was giving her a look from the cage he was sitting in next to Lee and Gai-Sensei. TenTen had no choice, so she challenged the woman to a contest to get her teammates back and of course it couldn't be anything good like knife throwing or something like that. No it was a freaking beauty contest!

TenTen blew out a breath of hair and stepped out of the room into the main hall to where she was to meet the Beauty Queen to compete.

"Wow TenTen." Lee gasped and Gai-Sensei's jaw drop, even Neji's eyes widened.

She looked nothing like her usual self; she had her two buns down showing just how long her hair really was. It was down to her waist and a portion of it was braided with flowers intertwined in the strands.

She had subtle makeup on, making her eyes and lips pop and she was wearing a one shoulder white dress with a green vine pattern running up the left side and onto the shoulder. She had white heels with green flowers on the straps of it and along the right side of her dress was a slit revealing her leg. She had a fan clasped in her right hand, having seals on it so she could break them and use her weapons in case of an attack.

"I've done what you wanted, now let's get this over with so I can get my team back." TenTen looked over at the Beauty Queen whose black hair was in a fancy up-do and her dress was pure red that worked well with her black heels.

"…I don't think so." The Queen said swallowing hard, knowing that she had nothing on this girl in front of her. "Guards, take her!"

"Hey! That is unyouthful!" Gai-Sensei shouted, hands clasping the bars of his cage before jumping back, hands smoking from the electricity that was coursing through the metal.

"TenTen, watch out!" Lee cried out a warning as a guard swiped at her head. TenTen ducked down and swept out with her right leg, using the slit in the dress to her advantage. The guard went down and she stomped down on his chest getting a groan from the man.

"It's not nice to attack a lady." She said breezily before turning to the other guards. They rushed her and TenTen leapt up into the air, arching gracefully as she opened her fan and broke the seals. Her weapons appearing in puffs of smoke, grabbing them she threw them towards their targets. Not missing any of her marks she landed back on the ground by the Beauty Queen as the guards all collapsed on the ground.

"Now, I think it's time you let my team go… Don't you agree?" TenTen snapped her fan shut and looked at the woman in front of her with even eyes.

"I…I." The Beauty Queen stammered and TenTen raised her fan slightly and the woman threw her arm to the side and slammed down on a button. The doors to the cages slid open and the rest of Team Gai leapt out.

"Thank you." TenTen said pleasantly before swiftly knocking the Beauty Queen out with a solid punch to the jaw. "That was for making me get into this ridiculous outfit."

"Excellent job TenTen!" Gai-Sensei scooped the girl up and spun her around.

"Gai-Sensei!" She shouted, but her Sensei kept spinning her happily. Lee started to laugh and even Neji cracked a smile. He personally thought that TenTen looked good in white and green.


	4. Protection Arc: Males

Team 7- Naruto and Sasuke

Sakura was pretty sure the glare she had on her face was becoming permanent. She tugged uselessly at the chains on her wrists. She was just happy she didn't get sea sick, as she had been stuck on this ship for a good hour and an half. She had finished cursing people out half an hour ago; there really wasn't much to do when you were chained in the bowels of a slave ship. Yeah, slave traders had taken her from her team's campsite. The one time she was alone there to keep an eye on the fire a group of strong, scarred men attacked her and she woke up in the bowels of a moving ship. Her clothes, weapons and forehead protector were gone just leaving her in a grey linen dress.

She had cursed the men, she had cursed her team, and she had cursed everyone she could think of after trying to get out of the chains that were wrapped around her ankles and wrists. These slave traders hadn't taken any chances with her; she had managed to figure out that they were slave traders when one had brought her some bread and water. She was alone in the small room, clearly thinking ahead in case she had any ideas about rallying the other slaves to rebel against the traders.

She had looked around the small room but there was nothing she could do to get out of the room, the only way out was the huge locked steel door.

She got up and started to shuffle around the room again, her legs had started to cramp up. She paused by the door when she heard muffled noises outside the door; she pressed her ear against it, straining to hear.

"HEY! IN HERE!" Sakura pounded on the door with her chained hands. The noise increased and seemed to be getting closer and closer.

"SAKURA!" She broke out grinning as she heard Naruto's voice calling from the other side of the door.

"NARUTO!" She called back.

"MOVE BACK FROM THE DOOR!" Sasuke's voice joined in and her grin got bigger before she shuffled back to the wall across from the door.

Fire outlined the door as it warped and melted onto the ground, showing Sasuke in his position for his fire-style justu's.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked coming into view.

"Better now that you guys are here, now get me these things off of me! Also please tell me someone found my stuff!" Sakura leapt over the burning remains of the door to stand by her teammates.

"You mean these?" Naruto grinned his usual grin, holding up a folded bundle of clothes, forehead protector and weapons.

"Thank you Naruto, Sasuke!" Sakura grinned, as Sasuke unlocked the chains around her limbs. She grabbed her clothes from Naruto and leapt back into the room and out of view. She quickly got changed and when she exited the room once more she was tying her forehead protector on.

"How did you guys find me?" Sakura asked curiously.

"When we found out that you had been taken, we tracked your path to a dock. We managed to get aboard before they left the dock. We've spent the whole time tracking you down, freeing the rest of the captives." Sasuke explained as the group went on the move. They appeared on the main deck, where the captives were huddled in a group, where some of the traders advancing on them.

"Glad you left some for me." Sakura cracked her knuckles and advanced on the traders. The men of her team quickly moved the captives away from the battle and watched tense as Sakura took down the traders. She clapped her hands together, dusting off her clothes.

"That's what you get." Sakura said annoyed. "Now whose ready to go home?" She turned to the captives who all grinned and surrounded the pink haired girl, thanking her and hugging her.

'Thanks for coming to get me you guys." Sakura smiled at her team softly as they steered the ship back to shore.

"Don't make a habit of it." Sasuke crossed his arms, sending her a small smile.

"We love you too Sakura." Naruto grinned happily.

Team 8- Kiba, Akamaru and Shino

Hinata couldn't help but sigh as she sat in a decadent throne, wearing rather expensive looking robes. The collar wrapped around her throat took away from the royal look she had going on. She had no idea why this happened to her, her team had been on a mission for a ruler of a village to bring home his son and heir. They had found the son and found out that he was for lack of a better word… Insane and now he wanted to marry Hinata and make her his queen. Hence why she was wearing robes, sitting on a throne and since this was all against her will the collar was attached to a chain that was wrapped around the teen's wrist to keep her close. She could only hope that Kiba and Shino were close and had a plan for getting her out of this mess as right now the teen beside her was ranting on about their wedding.

She sighed again as he started to describe the flower arrangements, she had dreamed about her wedding to Naruto ever since she had met him and she had no intentions of marring this guy.

She looked around the throne room and a smile made her way onto her face when she spotted a familiar looking dog slinking around the edge of the room silently.

"I see you are looking forward to our wedding my love." The teen jerked the chain; Hinata gasped as her collar yanked on her skin, pulling her closer to him and shut her eyes as he planted a kiss on her cheek. She closed her eyes in disgust until he let her go back to her throne and the collar went slack. She breathed out as he went back to planning their wedding aloud. He suddenly stopped talking and started to grunt instead. She opened her pupil-less eyes and looked over confused before a real grin lit up her face. Small swarms of bugs were starting to form around the teen, whom released the chain to wave his hands around him to fend off the bugs.

Akamaru moved from the side of the room and clamped down on the teen's leg angrily.

"G-good boy!" Hinata grinned, standing up out of the throne and Akamaru unlatched his teeth from the teen's leg and stood in front of Hinata growling protectively. The doors to the room flew open letting Kiba and Shino strode in, excluding killing intent.

"Kiba! Shino!" Hinata grinned at her teammates.

"Hinata, are you alright?" Kiba asked worried.

"I'm m-much b-better n-now." Hinata admitted.

"Don't worry." Shino stated. "We will take care of this." He held up his hands and more swarms of insects flew towards the teen.

"Akamaru now!" Kiba called out, Akamaru barked and growled as he tripled in size. Hinata got the idea and jumping up onto Akamaru's back, gripping his fur tightly and Akamaru bounded towards Kiba and Shino.

Shino kept the son and heir of the village trapped as the leader of the village and the villagers stormed in and only then did Shino made his bug retreat. They tuned out the leader telling his son off and focused on Hinata.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Kiba asked worriedly, helping Hinata slid off Akamaru's back. Shino's eyes from under his glasses were trained on the collar and chain connected to her neck and sent a stream of bugs towards it and within seconds it fell off her slightly bruised neck.

"I-I'm okay. T-Thank you for r-rescuing me." She smiled sincerely at her boys.

"Always Hina." Kiba promised and Akamaru licked her face happily.

Team 10- Shikamaru and Choji

Ino gasped for breath, pain radiating from her whole body. She tightened her grip on the side of the cliff she had just recently fallen off of. The rock ledge was unstable and taking down the criminal they had been hired to capture had made it very, very unstable! She managed to kick him back into Shikamaru's shadow, trapping him for Choji to knock out when the ground below her feet shook and crumbled away, taking her with it.

"INO!" Shikamaru's voice called out to her and she looked up to see the familiar pineapple hairstyle of her genius teammate.

"SHIKAMARU!" She called back up and her right foothold, crumbled away and she yelled as she lost a few more feet, the rocks tearing up her skin as she scrambled for a new place to hold onto.

"ARE YOU OKAY?" Choji called out, worry evident in his voice.

"HELP WOULD BE NICE!" Ino called back up, squeezing her eyes shut as she breathed heavily. She could deal with heights but this was getting ridiculous.

"WE HAVE A PLAN!" Shikamaru called down reassuringly.

"Well that's comforting." She muttered into the rocks. She knew Shikamaru's plans were top notch but she couldn't see a way out of this.

"I think my plans work well." Shikamaru's voice was much closer than before and she snapped her head back, looking up. He was a few feet above her, a rope tied around his waist and he was belaying down the cliff side.

"Are you insane?" Ino gasped out.

"Maybe, but I wasn't about to let you fall off the side of a cliff." Shikamaru held out his hand for her. She slowly pulled her hand off her hold on the cliff face and reached up towards his.

"Just a little more…" Ino gritted out as they stretched for each other. Their middle fingertips just brushed against each other when Ino's foothold gave away and she fell off the cliff side, hand still outreached towards Shikamaru's.

"INO!" Shikamaru didn't even think, he pulled out a kunai and slashed the rope holding him up and he too started to fall.

He adjusted himself so he caught up with Ino and pulled her into his body, curling around her protectively.

"CHOJI NOW!" Shikamaru shouted out, tucking Ino's blonde head under his chin.

"Super expansion Justu!" Choji shouted doing the needed hand sign. He grew so he was triple his size and reached out from where he was waiting and grinned in relief when Ino and Shikamaru landed safely in the palm of his hand.

The two stayed still for a while Choji made easy work of scaling the rest of the cliff and landed safely on the ground. Shikamaru uncurled himself from around Ino when Choji set them on the ground. Choji returned to his usual size and fell backwards, breathing heavily from the justu.

"Are you okay Ino?" Shikamaru asked worried, as the blonde hadn't said a word yet.

"You guys… ARE INSANE AND IF YOU EVER DO SOMETHING SO RECKLESS AGAIN I WILL KILL YOU!" She ranted loudly at them after coming out of her stunned trance.

"There's our girl." Choji laughed.

"Still so troublesome." Shikamaru agreed.

"HOW ARE YOU TWO SO CALM ABOUT THIS? YOU ALMOST DIED!" Ino pointed her index finger at them accusingly.

"Because you are alive." Choji stated and that snapped Ino out of her ranting mode.

"…What?" Ino looked at the two confused.

"Like I said before. Troublesome." Shikamaru smiled. "You didn't really think that we were going to let you fall did you?"

"…No, but you guys could have…" Ino trailed off.

"You could have too and there was no way we were going to let that happen." Shikamaru said softly and Choji munched away on a new bag of chips he pulled from his pack.

"…Thanks you guys." Ino launched herself at her boys, throwing them into a group hug.

"Troublesome girl."

"Awe Ino."

Team Gai- Neji and Lee

"Just hold on TenTen! We will have you out soon!" Neji's voice barely made it through the huge wall of rocks that was separating TenTen from her teammates.

They were on a training mission, testing out new terrain for the ninja academy, they had just finished inspected an underwater stream that was trickling into an adjoining cave when an earthquake rocked the cave. They were close to the entrance of the adjoining cave and TenTen reacted fast, she shoved both Lee and Neji out of the way of falling rocks and out in front of the cave mouth. However she had to leap back to avoid the collapsing rocks.

She had just thought she would wait patiently until they opened a path for her, until something welled up by her ankles, steadily rising up. She looked down to see water around her feet, she looked behind her and saw that the hole the trickle from the stream in the cave over had opened wider thanks to the earthquake and it was pumping water into the blocked off cave.

"HURRY! I DON'T WANT TO DROWN!" TenTen shouted to the rocks, before moving over to the hole, sloshing through the water and pulled out a scroll, inspecting the seals, looking for anything that might be able to block the hole for a time. She found nothing and she vowed that if she got out of this alive then she would make sure she was prepared for anything and everything.

The water was up to her waist as she made her way back to the rock wall and unsealed some weapons, attacking the surface herself not wanting to do nothing as the water level raised up.

The water made its way to her shoulders, it was coming in faster than she thought it would and it was pushing her upwards towards the jagged ceiling of the cave. She saw the rock wall starting to shake from the actions of Neji and Lee on the other side of the wall. She just wished they would hurry, she could hold her breath for a small chunk of time but it was not her strong suit.

Her cheek was being cut by a jagged rock as she pressed her face against the ceiling of the cave; the water level was about to cover her head. She took a huge breath of air just as the water filled the entire cave. She opened her eyes and treaded water in the dark, water filled cave and all she could do was wait.

Bubbles trailed towards from her mouth and nose as time went on, her lungs were starting to burn and darkness started to get darker than before. She felt the water vibrate as the last of her air left her lungs; she felt a pulling sensation before she fell into utter darkness.

TenTen awoke, gasping for air before she started to cough up water.

"Thank god." Lee said in relief.

"Are you okay TenTen?" Neji asked from where he was supporting TenTen's back.

"Ugh… I think so…" TenTen coughed a few more times, looking at Neji and Lee who both looked exhausted and wet but had looks of relief on their faces. "What happened, I remember blacking out from lack of air…"

"We managed to break through the rock wall just in time and the water poured out with you in tow." Lee explained.

"You were however not breathing, so I performed CPR and brought you back." Neji said and TenTen felt herself blush at his words.

"Are you feeling alright TenTen, you look flushed." Lee leaned in closer and she just gave him a look.

"I'm fine thanks to you two." TenTen said happily.

"We would never let anything happen to you TenTen." Neji said seriously and Lee nodded up and down vigorously.

"Thanks you guys." TenTen felt herself blushing as she beamed at the two guys beside her.


	5. Protection Arc: Sensei's

Team 7- Kakashi

"So Kakashi, you're old sensei was the legendary yellow flash. Let see if you live up to that speed, your genin's are counting on it." A voice echoed overhead, the one eyed ninja looked around the huge stone maze he woke up in a few moments ago.

"Tick, tock Kakashi." The voice echoed again and this time Kakashi was moving quickly. He had summoned his dogs and sent them on different paths, each trying to pick up on one of his team's scents.

"Kakashi! I have Sakura's scent over here." Pakkun called and Kakashi rushed over to where the Pakkun was tracking down the pink haired girl's scent.

"Sakura!" Kakashi called out, seeing the girl laying unconscious on a stone platform.

"Might want to hurry unless you want her to lose her head." The voice called out again, bringing Kakashi's attention to the ceiling of the maze where a trapdoor opened up and a huge ax dropped down. Using all his speed, the white hair ninja rushed forward, grabbing the pink haired preteen off the platform and the two landed roughly on the floor beside the platform. Sakura was lying in his arms safely and Kakashi sighed out in relief.

"I'm rather impressed, your speed is rather good. You have my word that the female shall not be harmed while you rescue the others." The voice sounded amused.

Kakashi growled annoyed and looked at Pakkun who nodded and barked before disappearing himself, another dog appeared beside him and that dog nodded and sat near where Kakashi lay Sakura down on the ground.

"I would start looking for the raven haired one, the heat is really rising. Tick, tock Kakashi."

"Sasuke is this way!" Pakkun called from another part of the maze.

Kakashi tracked Pakkun and soon was on the heels of the dog as they skidded around a corner and Kakashi had to jump back to avoid a huge column of flames that erupted in front of him.

"Damn…" Kakashi breathed out and Pakkun's nose twitched.

"Sasuke's in there." Pakkun lifted a paw and pointed to the center of the room.

"Of course he is." Kakashi shook his head and made a few hand signs.

"Water dragon justu!" Using the justu he copied from team 7's first A class mission he sent the water dragon into the room of flames, following in it's wake.

Kakashi's one visible eye scanned the area and he let out a sigh of relief when he spotted Sasuke lying unconscious but alive on the floor a few feet away, a small fire burning merrily around him in a ring. Kakashi leapt over the small ring of fire, grabbing the preteen before jumping back out of the fire and he made his way back to where Pakkun was sniffing the air.

"Impressive, no fear of fire then. Do you have a fear of drowning? I hope your final genin brat doesn't." The same voice echoed and Kakashi sent Pakkun a look, the dog nodded. Another tracking dog appeared to stand guard by Sasuke's form before Pakkun took off towards Naruto's scent with Kakashi right beside him, after a couple of sharp turns the duo made it to a ledge overlooking a large room.

The room was filled up with water and Kakashi could make out a murky form of his final genin. Kakashi looked at Pakkun who nodded, confirming that it was indeed Naruto. Taking a huge breath Kakashi dove into the water and he swam swiftly down towards Naruto.

The blonde was floating limply, with only a chain wrapped around his ankle to stop him from floating away. A small trail of bubbles was streaming from the corners of his mouth and nose. Kakashi narrowed his eye and pulled out a chakra blade, feeding his chakra into it before slashing the chain apart. With his free hand the white haired jonin latched onto Naruto's wrist and swam up to the surface.

The two heads broke the surface and with Pakkun's help Naruto was lifted up onto the ledge and out of danger. After making sure he had a pulse, Kakashi nodded at Pakkun who sat down next to the son of his late sensei to keep guard.

Now that all his kids were safe Kakashi was ready to destroy whoever was behind this…. Wait did he just think of those brats as HIS kids? He better not let Asuma or Gai hear him say that or the men would never let him live it down.

Kakashi quickly sprinted across the water's surface to the ledge on the other side and he kept going, using his tracking skills to find where the voice had been broadcasted. It didn't take too long and that surprised the jonin slightly but his mind was set on destroying the man that he didn't care too much. He came to a steel door and with an angry look set on the visible part of his face he focused his chakra in his right foot and kicked it in. The door flew inwards off his hinges and through the dust Kakashi stalked in and got his revenge.

Team 8- Kurenai

Kurenai was on a simple C-class mission with her team, or at least that was the theory. She had decided to go and gather more firewood for the fire that Hinata had managed to start, she had left Shino on guard duty and she knew he and his bugs were good at that. So leaving the campsite she had no worries, the worries came when she was almost back at the site and she felt an all too familiar sensation fall over her sense.

Genjustu.

Someone was using Genjustu in the area. She dropped the firewood and sprinted through the trees towards the campsite. She landed on a branch of a tree and narrowed her eyes down at the sight before her.

Akamaru was out of it, lying flat out on his stomach with Kiba nearby flat on his back with his eyes closed. Hinata was leaning against a tree trunk, shaking uncontrollably with her eyes wide and hazy. Shino was in a heap on the ground, his glasses gone and eyes shut tightly as his body shook just like Hinata's. Shino was by the feet of a tall, pale man with red hair in a spiky ponytail. She hissed silently, this man had done this to her team. She closed her own eyes, doing a check for Genjustu on her own body. She didn't find any and the scene below the branch she was perched on was the same.

She silently pulled out a handful of shuriken and tossed them down towards the red haired man. His head whipped up as the shuriken flew towards him and leapt out of the way, right to where Kurenai had suspected he would dodge. He was met with a strong fist in the jaw. Kurenai landed on her feet in a crouched position and the man slowly stood to his own feet, rubbing his jaw.

"I finally found you Kurenai Yuhi. The Genjustu mistress of the leaf." The man grinned at the woman before him.

"What do you want with my team?" Kurenai asked, eyes narrowing hating this man in front of her.

"I came to test my Genjustu ability against the Genjustu mistress and her students… I have to say that your students were quite a letdown. They fell to my Genjustu far too easily." The man said conversationally.

"My students are a genin tracking team, they have no skills in Genjustu. If you know so much about me and where my team was going to be then you should have known that much." Kurenai hissed. To take out a Genjustu, take out the user or have someone else pump Chakra into you if you could not break it yourself. In this case she would take the user out with pleasure.

"Oh of course I knew that they were Genin with no Genjustu experience." The man waved his hand.

"Then why would you attack them?" Kurenai felt rage boil up within her at this admittance.

"Because they are your students, it is one of the best ways for me to engage you in a Genjustu battle." The man said simply and the rage within the black haired woman boiled over the edge.

"If you want a Genjustu battle then a Genjustu battle you will get." Kurenai stated and the two stared at each other and their wills and Genjustu's attacked each other. Neither of them was giving an inch in this stalemate. Sweat rolled down the side of Kurenai's head as she kept up her attack, in the edge of her eyes she could see her team still under this man's Genjustu and the symptoms seemed to be getting even worse. Seeing this gave Kurenai the push she needed and her Genjustu rolled over her enemy's Genjustu ruthlessly and she trapped him in his worst nightmares.

The man screamed out for a solid minute before his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he fell backwards in a faint. Kurenai breathed out from all the effort of keeping her Genjustu going that long. She quickly restrained him before she turned towards her team and was pleased to see each of them slowly coming around.

She ignored the squawks of protest she was getting from Kiba; she dragged her kids into a huge hug. She settled them down for the night, telling them she would keep watch over them. She leaned against a thick tree trunk and kept her arms draped around her kids as they slept off the aftereffects of the Genjustu. Hinata was curled up under one of her arms, peacefully asleep with Akamaru on her lap. Shino fell slightly to the side; his head resting on her shoulder and Kiba was currently spread out over all their legs so he was in contact with the others on his team for comfort. These kids were slowly becoming HER kids and she was never going to let anything happen to them.

Team 10- Asuma

Shikamaru coughed up some blood as he looked up at the man in front of him. The genin was in bad shape, his left arm was hanging uselessly at his side, a couple bruised and broken ribs and he had a couple of long slashes on his legs and sides. Ino and Choji were worse off than he was. They both were covered in blood, bruises and were unconscious a few feet away. The sight of his team, his best friends made Shikamaru angrier than he had ever felt but he was useless at the moment. He groaned in pain when the man reach down and grabbed Shikamaru's long hair that had fallen out of his ponytail during the battle. With a firm grip in his hair the man yanked the genin to his feet, sending pain through his whole body.

"I have to admit that you brats put up a good fight. However you had no chance against me, all I wanted was the location of Asuma Sarutobi. It shouldn't be that hard for genin of the leaf to answer that question." The man sneered and Shikamaru glared defiantly up at the man.

He and the others managed to keep the fact that Asuma was their sensei a secret during the ambush attack because they knew if this man found out then something even worse might have happened to them.

"Never met him." Shikamaru said and felt a trickle of blood trail down the side of his mouth. "Now leave."

"I'm having so much fun, why would I leave?" The man asked raising an eyebrow.

"You know that blonde one would make me a pretty penny, hell even you and the fat one might fetch some money for me." The man mused inspecting the genin in his grip.

"Leave them alone, if you want anyone take me." Shikamaru said with panic rising up in his chest.

"You know… You would be a lot prettier if you kept that mouth of yours shut… Maybe I'll take the other two and leave you as a message to Asuma Sarutobi." The man raised his other hand, holding a kunai tightly. Shikamaru closed his eyes as the man swung down his arm. Shikamaru heard a scream of pain that didn't belong to him and the grip on his hair was released. He felt arms go around him and he was airborne before he felt a jolt that signaled that they had landed.

"I've got you Shikamaru."

Shikamaru's eyes flew open and his eyes met Asuma's and Shikamaru sagged in relief in his sensei's arms.

"Took your time." Shikamaru coughed, more blood trickling down from his mouth. Asuma saw this and his eyes gained a dangerous glint.

"Everything is going to be alright now Shikamaru." Asuma said soothingly, gently lying his student down next to Ino and Choji, the glint was growing as he took in their states.

"You are going to regret this!" The man shouted his hand clamped down around the stump where his other hand used to be.

"No. You're going to regret this. You are going to regret attacking my team." Asuma's voice took on a darker tone.

"You brat! You told me you didn't know him!" The man turned towards Shikamaru but Asuma stepped in the way.

"Why would I tell someone who wants my sensei dead anything?" Shikamaru retorted, clutching his ribs with his uninjured arm.

"You can relax Shikamaru, he's good as dead." Asuma said simply, pulling out his trench knives and they burst to life with his chakra.

"Why is that Sarutobi?" The man sneered, pulling out a sword with his one remaining hand.

"Because you hurt my kids." Asuma said and he disappeared from sight. Blood erupted from the man's shoulder and the man yelled out in pain. Asuma was then back in his place in front of his team.

"Don't watch this Shikamaru." Asuma looked over his shoulder and was angry, but relieved to see that Shikamaru had passed out and was lying next to Ino. Asuma gritted his teeth together and turned back towards the injured man.

"What do you want with me?" Asuma asked and the man pointed his sword at the symbol of the 12 guardian ninja.

"The bounty and killing the Hokage's son is just an added bonus." The man sneered and Asuma's grip tightened on his chakra blades.

"Don't count on it." Asuma said and he slashed the air in front of him a few times.

"I expected more from one of the 12." The man laughed before he froze and he fell to the ground with bloody gashes all across his body.

"You didn't look close enough." Asuma said and slashed the air one more time and the man's head detached itself from the man's shoulders.

"Never mess with my kids."

Asuma turned back to his unconscious team and he picked them up gently. Choji was resting on his back, Ino and Shikamaru were slung under one of his arms. He ran back to the village to get his kids the help they needed, but he felt a strange sense of pride rise up in his chest as he thought of how they defended them selves and kept the fact they knew him under wraps.

Team Gai- Gai

Rock Lee was struggling, this wasn't his usual struggling, and this was struggling for his life. Strong hands were wrapped around his throat, slowly choking the life out of the genin. Neji and TenTen were trying to get to their feet nearby, beaten down and bruised. Lee couldn't even get a lock on what the man looked like because of the strange mask he had on, but one thing was for sure. He had a grudge against Gai Sensei. Thus he was taking it out on his Lee, Gai's surrogate son. The attack came out of nowhere when the team was training together without their sensei. The man had taken Neji and TenTen out while they were sparing with each other and had charged at Lee, shouting something that Lee couldn't understand other than his Sensei's name.

Lee's body was exhausted from training all day and most of the previous night and he could barely manage the strength to try to pry the hands off his throat. Suddenly he could breath again, he rolled onto his stomach and coughed over and over again breathing deep breathes of air back into his lungs.

He looked up and saw his sensei standing in front of the masked man, an angry look on his face.

"Gai-Sensei?" TenTen asked, leaning heavily against Neji, as her leg was bloody and Neji's right arm was just as bloody.

"Who are you and why have you harmed my youthful students?" Gai shouted, hands on his hips.

"Do you not remember me?" The masked man removed part of his mask to show burned skin.

"…No! However if you have a problem with me then attack me and not my students!" Gai rushed towards the burned man.

"Lee, get up. We need to get out of here so Gai-Sensei can fight without worrying about us getting hurt." Neji said to Lee, he had made his way to the fallen ninja with TenTen still draped over his shoulders.

"Yosh, I understand Neji." Lee nodded and staggered to his feet and the genin made their way slowly over to the edge of their training grounds, resting behind a tree. TenTen was propped up against the tree trunk, wrapping her injured leg tightly before glaring at Neji and he sighed and sat next to her. She tightly tied the bandage around Neji's bloody arm.

"Thank you." Neji said quietly.

"Glad I trained you well." TenTen joked and Neji shook his head.

"Lee, come over here." TenTen said, gesturing to the other genin on her team.

"Thank you for your concern TenTen, but do not worry about me." Lee said, trying to sound upbeat, but his voice came out raspy.

'You're throat is bruised badly and you are exhausted." TenTen gave Lee a stern look.

"What if Gai-Sensei needs help?" Lee asked, worried for his Dad-Sensei.

"No need to worry my youthful students! I have arrived back from battle unharmed!" Gai said, looking over the bushes to where his team was laying in wait, still tense in case anything happened.

"Gai-Sensei! You are unharmed?" Lee asked, swaying on his feet as he stood up.

"I am unharmed, but you three are not. Wish I beat him up more." Gai said, voice full of venom. The team looked over to see the masked man was unconscious and bloody.

"I shall take you all to the hospital." Gai said determinedly. He squatted down and Lee got the message and climbed onto his Dad-Sensei's back.

"Neji, TenTen." Gai looked at the other two.

"No way." Neji also understood.

"I don't think he is giving us a choice Neji." TenTen said also understanding what their sensei was getting at. Gai held out his arm and tenderly TenTen stood up and let herself be picked up by her sensei. She leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled at Lee who smiled back.

"Just give up Neji." TenTen said feeling exhausted with trying to reason with her insane sensei and stubborn teammate.

"I can walk on my own perfectly fine thank you." Neji retorted, wincing at the pain coming from his arm.

"Ah the fires of youth burn brightly within you Neji, but I must insist!" Gai sounded proud but with his speed he was passing onto Lee the man snatched the Hyuuga under his arm and took off towards the hospital.

As they passed by the villagers shouts of annoyance could be heard from the Hyuuga, laughter from TenTen and raspy cheers from Lee.


	6. The Horrors of Puberty

_Team 7_

Kakashi found himself observing his team more often nowadays. Something seems very off and he found himself mentally noting all the differences down.

Naruto: was his loud orange jumpsuit getting shorter? His hair was longer and looking a lot more like his father, his voice also started to crack every so often.

Sasuke: his duck hair was getting longer, his clothes seemed shorter and he seemed skinner than usual and his voice was also cracking as much as Naruto's.

Sakura: Oh god, the only girl on the team. Mood swings, even worse than her normal anger she got from her mother, she kept adjusting her clothes almost every other step and yeah those were hips and yes that is a chest.

All in all Kakashi was determined he did not agree to this when he agreed to be a mentor to a genin team. He had noticed this over time but it all to a head when the group was on a mission and decided to take a dip in a nearby lake.

Naruto and Sasuke stripped down without a second thought and dove into the lake. Sakura was acting nervous and fidgeting with the hem of her clothes, watching the others on her team and their new growing figures.

"What's wrong Sakura? The water is great." Naruto called, treading the water.

"I uh…" Sakura looked at her feet.

"Come on Sakura!" Naruto whined.

"Okay FINE!" Sakura threw her arms up in the air and Kakashi shook his head, that boy was going to get a shock of his life.

Even Sasuke stopped doing laps to see if Sakura would get into the water or not.

Sakura pulled off her clothes to reveal her bathing suit along with her suddenly larger chest and hips were exposed to the world.

Kakashi had to breath deeply to stop from passing out. Naruto had stopped treading water and was sinking down towards the bottom of the lake with a trail of blood coming from his nose. Sasuke was still able to tread water but his eyes were trained on the pink haired girl as she waded into the water.

Kakashi watched as the two boys eyes followed her every move for the rest of the day and mission. He shook his head, praying to his old sensei that he would have the strength to deal with the puberty of the genin on his team. However he wasn't even sure if his sensei would have the strength to deal with it.

* * *

_Team 8_

Kurenai was trying to hold back her amusement because the girl sitting across from her needed her help. Hinata had her arms around Akamaru who was nuzzling himself into her chest. That was one of the reasons why the blue haired girl was across from her.

Of course Kurenai had noticed that her team was going through the stages of puberty. She had noticed when Kiba and Shino shot upwards and their voices changed. Akamaru was growing larger but he could still be picked up in the arms of people and Akamaru was more attached to Hinata nowadays. He seemed to be around the girl during a certain week of each month and never left her side.

So obviously the girl had questions about that and since the warmer weather hit, she had pulled back on the layers and was utterly confused about why or how Kiba and Shino followed her around. Even Shino's bugs seemed to latch onto Hinata lately.

Kurenai had simply given the girl some hot chocolate when she turned up at her sensei's door, Akamaru clutched in her arms and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Akamaru seems rather attached to you lately Hinata." Kurenai commented and the girl across from her smiled as she kissed Akamaru's furry head.

"H-he seems to a-appear every m-month during that t-time… He's been a lot of h-help but Kiba keeps questioning why and I-I don't want to answer that." Hinata said. "W-why do they k-keep following m-me around?"

"Ah Hinata." Kurenai smiled fondly at the girl. "They are just noticing all your developments and I think they are a bit in love with you."

"I-in l-love with m-me?" Hinata squeaked.

"Not actually in love with you, just their hormones are going crazy right now and they are starting to notice that you are well a girl. For the issue with Akamaru, I think he can sense your hormones and pain during your time of the month and he just wants to help." Kurenai reached over and petted Akamaru's head; the dog gave a yip in agreement before licking Hinata's cheek. The Hyuga giggled at the feeling and hugged Akamaru tighter.

"T-thank you." Hinata mumbled into his soft fur. "W-when will it stop?"

"Soon, I remember when I first developed. Asuma was always chasing after me… Well he still is I guess, but I doubt that Kiba and Shino will become your Asuma." Kurenai backtracked seeing Hinata's horrified face.

"I-I just w-want my b-brothers back." Hinata admitted.

"Don't worry about it Hinata, everything will be fine. If you need any more girl time I'm right here and so is the hot chocolate." Kurenai offered and was rewarded with a smile from the developing teen.

"T-Thank you Kurenai-Sensei." Hinata smiled sincerely.

* * *

_Team 10_

Asuma was playing Shogi with Shikamaru when the teen extended his legs out beside the broad, his feet brushing against Asuma's upper thigh.

"When did your legs get longer?" Asuma asked.

"Are you only now noticing this Asuma-Sensei?" Shikamaru sounded amused.

"I didn't think you were ever going to get taller." Asuma said, grabbing the teen by the ankle of his now suddenly long leg. Shikamaru squawked as he landed on his back as his sensei inspected his leg.

"You haven't seen Choji or Ino lately have you?" Shikamaru asked staring up at the ceiling.

"No… Oh god no please don't tell me." Asuma's face was one of horror now.

"I'm not the only one who is undergoing troublesome changes." Shikamaru said and couldn't help but laugh at his sensei's face.

"Dear god no. I did not sign up for this." Asuma leaned back on the ground like Shikamaru was.

"You said we are your kids and all kids go through puberty." Shikamaru smirked, throwing his words from a while ago back in his face.

"Yeah, but I didn't think it would actually happen!" Asuma threw his arm over his eyes.

"As a warning… Ino is going to be trying things out on you next time she sees you." Shikamaru warned.

"Speaking from experience are we?" Asuma asked trying not to sound too amused because Shikamaru's words were making him feel scared as hell for his sanity.

"Yeah, Choji actually stopped eating for a whole day and I took a kunai in the arm during practice." Shikamaru said conversationally, his voice cracking slightly and the teen got an annoyed look on his face.

"Ah that makes a lot of sense." Asuma thought back to the day he had to wrap Shikamaru's wound after training with no real explanation for it. He snickered when he spotted the look on Shikamaru's face after his voice cracked.

"Not a damn word sensei." Shikamaru grumbled annoyed.

"Not a damn word Shikamaru." Asuma agreed and Shikamaru muttered under his breath about troublesome blondes.

* * *

_Team Gai_

Let's just say that the men on Team Gai were pretty obvious to the fact they did in fact have a girl on their team. It took a rather big wake-up call to the boys when they finally noticed.

It took a break in a mission and a midnight swim.

TenTen had refused to bathe in the nearby river when the rest of the team did. Neji gave her an odd look but accepted it, as did Lee and Gai. She let out a small squeal as they started to strip down to nothing. She slapped one hand over her eyes and rushed back to their campsite. She had noticed her teammates developments and unlike them she had understood it rather well. She just rather not try to dwell on it for too long so she busied herself with making sure the campsite was well protected and the fire was going well.

Finally they boys made it back, by this point night had fallen and she nodded at Gai-Sensei as she made her way back towards the nearby river. She stripped down and waded into the stream lit only by moonlight and began to hum softly as she washed. Her hair was down for once because she was running her fingers through it, working out the knots and twigs that formed there during the mission.

"TenTen we finally…" Neji trailed off in shock as he and Lee came into view of the river seeing TenTen's naked form with her hair down made them both freeze up and turn beat red. TenTen couldn't help but shriek as she dropped under the water, so only her head was showing and her deadliest glare was aimed towards her frozen teammates.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" She shouted at them ducking her head totally underwater. She held her breath for as long as she could and when she slowly let her head break the surface again and saw that thankfully the two were gone. She swam to shore and quickly with eyes open she dried off and slipped into her clothes, leaving her hair down the girl shuffled back to the campsite and saw Gai-Sensei was fast asleep while Neji and Lee were still looking shocked as they stared into the fire.

"What do you have to say for yourselves?" TenTen placed her hands on her hips looking at the boys before her.

"…You're a girl!" Lee realized and TenTen felt her eye twitch and landed a solid right hook on Lee's jaw.

"I'm so glad you figured it out." TenTen was annoyed and she turned to Neji. "And what do you have to say for yourself Hyuga?"

"…You look pretty with your hair down." Neji muttered as he turned to lie on his bedroll.

"…That was pretty good." TenTen felt her cheeks heating up. "You get to keep watch Lee, just don't watch me!"

She lied down on her own bedroll and fell asleep with a blush on her cheeks and a smile on her lips, at least Neji finally noticed her for something other than her weapon skills.


	7. Kidnap Arc: Team 7 & 8

Naruto

A five-year-old child with striking blonde hair was running through the forest within the village, he was breathing heavily and his body was covered in scratches. Naruto let out a small yelp as he tripped over an uprooted tree root and tumbled down the small hill. Naruto groaned as he shakily pushed himself up on unsteady arms and he looked up at the top of the hill and his whole body trembled in fear. Standing above him was a team of ninjas with headbands that the small child didn't recognize. Each had a weapon out at the ready and Naruto felt more fear than he ever had felt in his short life so far.

"Our orders are to take the kid alive, but there was no orders on if he was injured or not." The leader of the team told the others. Naruto tried to scramble to his feet, but the wet soil didn't help him get any traction. The team of ninja's rushed towards him and Naruto curled up into a ball, arms covering his head for protection. His eyes were closed tightly as he waited for the pain but instead he heard grunts of pain. Naruto opened his eyes slowly and looked on in awe as the ninja team that had been chasing him was being taken down.

The single man that was behind taking the ninja team down was moving more gracefully than Naruto had seen anyone move in his whole life. The man had the traditional outfit of an ANBU on, his mask hiding his face and the only feature of the person behind the mask that Naruto saw was a head of silver hair. The silver haired ANBU finished off the final ninja and hit a button on his belt.

The ANBU turned towards the downed child and slowly knelt in front of the blonde.

"T-Thank you for helping me…" Naruto wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "B-But why?"

"I have been assigned to protect you Naruto." The ANBU stated and Naruto looked up with wide eyes.

"Protect me? But everyone but the old man hates me…" Naruto said sadly and looked up startled when a hand landed softly on his head.

"I do not hate you Naruto." The ANBU said truthfully, keeping his hand on the head of his sensei's son.

"T-Thank you Mr. ANBU guy!" Naruto beamed happily at the silver haired man.

"My codename is Dog." Kakashi Hatake said from behind his Dog mask.

"Dog? That's pretty cool, but I think I like frogs better." Naruto admitted, thinking of his frog wallet.

"I see." Kakashi chuckled, as other ANBU's appeared to take care of the unconscious enemy ninja's. "Let me take you home Naruto."

Naruto nodded and started to get off the ground but found his legs were still shaking like jelly. Kakashi saw this and gently lifted the small child up into his arms, ignoring the squeak of surprise from the blonde and started to walk away from the forest.

"Thanks Mr. Dog." Naruto said sleepily as his eyes closed and Kakashi soon found him self with arms full of sleeping toddler.

"I'll always protect you Naruto." Kakashi swore to the sleeping child.

Sasuke

The 6-month-old Sasuke Uchiha was currently taking a nap in his room. The child was snoozing peacefully in his crib as the door slowly opened and a snake slithered into the room. The snake hissed as it wound its way up to the railing of the crib and looked down at the sleeping Uchiha child and it's forked tongue lashed out pleased. No one was around and taking this child would be too easy, or so he hoped.

The snake made his way to Sasuke's side, curling itself around the baby's little limbs and flicked his tongue against the child's cheek. Sasuke squirmed in discomfort at the feeling and suddenly the door was kicked in and standing in the doorway was a young Itachi Uchiha and the preteen was looking extremely pissed off.

"Get away from my brother you snake." Itachi hissed, his Sharingan activated, showing how serious he was taking this threat against his little brother. The snake brought its head up to hiss threateningly at Itachi. The older Uchiha snarled at the snake and with great speed the Uchiha lunged forward and his hands wrapped tightly around the throat of the snake, yanking it off his little brother. Itachi left the room as he pulled out a kunai and glared at the snake.

"If Orochimaru ever tries to hurt my little brother I will do everything in my power to make sure he pays dearly." Itachi snarled at the snake before he easily he gutted the snake and set it ablaze with a simple fire justu. The snake that attacked his little brother was now nothing more than ashes in the wind.

Itachi walked back into his little brother's room and gently picked Sasuke up, cradling him in his arms like he usually does.

"It's okay little brother. I'll always be here to protect and love you no matter what. I promise you this." Itachi mumbled to the little child in his arms as he rocked his sleeping little brother back and forth.

Kiba

Kiba Inuzuka was playing/training in the park near his house with Akamaru. Kiba was laughing happily as he and Akamaru chased each other around the park, the little figures of the two were being watched from a figure standing atop of the hill overlooking the park.

The heir to the Inuzuka clan was totally obvious to the fact he was being watched as he and Akamaru happily kept each other company.

"This is too easy." The figure muttered to him self. He made a move to head down towards the park when a huge black and white dog with an eye patch growled, blocking his view to the park.

"I wouldn't take another step if I were you." A female voice growled out as she dropped in beside the huge dog. "No one comes near my boy."

"Tsume Inuzuka isn't it?" The man tilted his head to the side.

"Yes and do I need to repeat my warning about my son?" Tsume growled and Kuromaru's hackles raised up in defense. "Just walk away now and I'll try to leave all your body parts in tact. See Kuromaru hasn't had a chance to sink his teeth into anyone recently." Kuromaru bared his teeth threateningly.

The man took a step forward, pulling out a handful of shuriken.

"Can't say I didn't warn you." Tsume shrugged her shoulders and Kuromaru barked.

"Go at him boy, I'll get Kiba and Akamaru home." She turned her back and disappeared in a swirl of leaves as Kuromaru leapt at the man with his jaw open widely.

"Kiba, Akamaru!" Tsume called out, worry lacing her voice as he re-appeared in the center of the park.

"Mama!" Kiba cried surprised with Akamaru barking in surprise mirroring his partner.

"Are you here to train with us?" Kiba asked innocently.

"No my beautiful baby boy, it's time for us to go home." Tsume said soothingly as she scooped up her son in her arms, nuzzling his cheek.

"Already?" Kiba pouted upset.

"Yes, I'm sorry pup, but this isn't a good place for you right now." Tsume explained.

"Why?" Kiba asked the infamous question.

"Someone wants to hurt you and I won't let anything happen to you pup." Tsume swore holding him closer.

"Okay Mama." Kiba nodded and cuddled up to the warmth from his mother. If she said he was in danger then he most likely was. Kuromaru came bounding into the park, his muzzle covered in blood and Akamaru whined lowly at the sight. Kuromaru lifted a paw and patted on Akamaru's small little head and the two took off after their partners.

Shino

A baby was lying in a crib, in a restless sleep as his small little body was currently undergoing some hard changes. His small little body was incorporating his very own kikaichu. It would take time for the colony to settle in his body and for Shino to be able to become used to it. Right now was the most vulnerable in any Aburame's life and every member of the clan knew that the child undergoing this change would need to be protected fiercely.

However at this very moment Shino was left unguarded in his room when the window slowly opened up and a small, lithe figure slid into the room. The figure slowly drew out a needle and moved towards the sleeping baby. The man grinned as he loomed over Shino.

He brought his arm down ready to inject Shino when he found his arm immobile. He looked down and saw his arm was covered in a moving black form.

"Don't ever touch my son." Shibi Aburame said in a monotone of voice, his arms spread to the side and bugs flowing out of his overly large coat sleeves. "I don't care what your mission is, I will not let any attack on my clan happen while I am still breathing."

"Destroy him." Shibi ordered his kikaichu and the buzzing got louder as his colony converged on the assassin. The bugs ate away at the man's clothing and flesh, leaving nothing behind but bones.

Shibi nodded to his bugs and they retreated back into his body. The older Aburame gently picked up his restless son and held him close. He did his best to sooth the transition of the kikaichu and to ease his own worries after the kidnap attempt by staying by his son's side.


	8. Kidnap Arc: Team 10

Ino

A blonde little girl was humming happily as she was learning a new type of floral arrangement in her family's flower shop. She was sitting in the back corner so she was out of the way of the others in the shop. She was adjusting a red rose in the arrangement and was glad with the outcome. She couldn't wait to show her father when he got back to the shop. She heard a door open and she climbed to her feet and rushed around the corner to greet who was hoping was her father. She skidded to a halt when she caught sight of the man in front of her. Her instincts were screaming at her to run far away from this man. This man had all the looks of a ninja, but one that had been on the road for months and months and from what she learned from her father that was never a good sign.

"You must be the newest generation of the Yamanaka's." The man mused, looking the small child up and down with interest.

"Can I help you Mister?" Ino asked cautiously.

"Is your daddy around?" The man asked squatting down in front of the small girl.

"Yes he is. What do you want with him?" Ino lied before quickly asking him a question to cover it up, she had been hanging out with Shikamaru too much.

"I just want to talk to him about the old days." The man said and Ino narrowed her eyes.

"Daddy told me all about his friends and showed me photos. I've never seen you before." Ino picked up on the lie right away.

"Smart for your age aren't you brat?" The man said annoyed. "Just tell me where your father is!"

"NO!" Ino shouted and lashed out with her foot, connecting with the man's shin and she rushed backwards towards the door that led to her house.

"Come with me brat!" The man advanced on her, hand lashing out grabbing her by her clan's trademark long blonde hair. Ino shrieked as loud as she could and started to whack the man with her tiny fists as he tucked her under his arm.

"DAD!" Ino screamed as the man made his way to the door.

"Shut up you little brat!" The man hissed and whacked her across the face. Tears fell from her deep blue eyes as a bruise formed on her cheek.

"INO!" Inoichi shouted as he pushed open the doors to the flower shop, his whole stance shouting panic and worry. The moment he saw his little girl in the grip of this man and a bruise forming on her cheeks and tears in her eyes.

"You dare hurt my little girl." Inoichi growled, his stance becoming one of dangerous power.

"Just the man I was looking for. Here I thought I would have to kidnap your little brat and make you come to me." The man laughed, shaking the little blonde girl making her whimper in fear.

"Let my daughter go right now. This is between you and me whoever you are."

"You don't remember me?" The man asked outraged.

"If you don't let my daughter go this instant you won't remember who you are." Inoichi threatened, his voice low and dangerous.

"Like I would let you perform one of your mind justu's on me." The man scoffed. Ino took this chance and bit down hard on the man's hand. The man shouted out in pain and surprise letting Inoichi take a stance.

"Mind destruction justu." Inoichi called and the man froze, Inoichi rushed forward gathering his daughter in his arms moving out of range of the man. "Take yourself to T&I and turn yourself in." Inoichi ordered the man, who stiffly nodded and walked out of the flower shop letting the blonde turn, his attention to his blonde daughter.

"Are you okay Ino? What happened?" Inoichi asked quickly, turning into his worried father mode. Ino wrapped her little arms tightly around her father's neck and told her father everything that happened. Inoichi hugged his little girl tighter during the story.

"You were very brave my beautiful little flower. I'm so sorry you had to go through that." Inoichi turned the sign to close. "Now let's get your cheek looked at you brave little girl."

"Okay Daddy… I knew you were coming to save me." Ino said innocently.

"I will always come to save you my little flower." Inoichi smoothed her blonde hair back before they went into the house.

Choji

The youngest Akimichi was sitting crossed legged on the roof of his clan's house, one hand holding a bag of chips and the other one moving the chips into his mouth. He was taking up Shikamaru's habit of watching the clouds and he found they were very fluffy today. He munched away on his BBQ flavored chips when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He lifted his head to see two black blurs heading towards him at a fast pace, Choji jumped to his feet and quickly ran to the edge of the roof and started to drop down when one of the blurs grabbed his scarf.

"Hey! Let me go!" Choji wiggled in the grasp of the figure. He dropped his chips and he lifted his arms up and wiggled a bit more. He slid out of his scarf and dropped towards the ground but the second figure grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Let me go!" Choji shouted again.

"Not a chance." The man snorted as he re-joined the other figure. "We want your future abilities."

"What are you even talking about?" Choji asked very confused.

"It's our clan's legacy." Choza said, his arms crossed and blocking the way of the men that were trying to kidnap his son.

"Legacy?" Choji asked confused.

"I'll explain it to you when you come of age. Right now close your eyes son." Choza smiled kindly at his son. Choji nodded his head and closed his eyes, trusting his dad. The grip on his shirt disappeared and there were a couple grunts, groans and crashes when a soft hand touched his cheek.

"It's okay to open your eyes now Choji." Choza said softly and Choji opened his eyes up. "There you are."

"Are you okay dad?" Choji asked worried for his father.

"Me? Hahaha I'm fine! I'm more worried about you!" Choza shook his head at his son's kind nature.

"I'm fine dad! Just upset they took my scarf and made me drop my chips." Choji pouted and Choza laughed jollily as he pulled out his son's scarf. Choji beamed as his father wrapped it around his neck gently before picking him up in his arms.

"Now let's go get some food, how does that sound son?" Choza asked.

"Yeah!" Choji pumped his fist into his air, Choza grinned at his son and leapt back towards the compound leaving the destruction from his battle in his wake.

Shikamaru

Shikamaru Nara, the heir of the Nara clan was currently leaning against a trunk of a tree. He was bound to the trunk with ninja wire and it was slowly cutting through his clothes. He had been walking home from his favorite place to cloud watch when he heard someone drop down behind him. He managed to turn around just in time to have the person pinched his pressure point and the Nara dropped like a stone.

When he came to he was bound to a tree and his eyes scanned the area looking for any clue as to where he was. He had to still be in Konoha and not too far from where he was walking. You can't exactly walk around the village with an unconscious kid over your shoulder.

Yes the Nara may be young but it didn't mean he didn't know what was going on.

"So you finally woke up huh kid?" A man walked up to the bound child.

"What do you want with me?" Shikamaru felt this was very cliché but he was too tried to try to figure it out on his own as his mind felt hazy from being unconscious.

"As long as I have you, your father can't make a move against me." The man smirked in triumph. So that was it, he was being used, as a hostage to make sure his father couldn't do anything against this man.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru leaned his head against the tree trunk and settled in. He had no doubt that his father was going to find out about this and he knew that if you got on his father's bad side then there was no where you could hide from him. This man made a major miscalculation by taking him and Shikamaru couldn't wait to see when his dad got there.

About 20 minutes passed by and Shikamaru decided to take a nap and he ignored the man who had kidnapped him. Clearly the man hated being ignored because when he tried to monologue at the kid and Shikamaru ignored him he didn't take it well. So for Shikamaru's troubles he got a solid punch in the jaw and it was painful. Shikamaru looked up at the man with a lazy expression. He worked his jaw slightly but winced when pain radiated from his injured jaw.

"Shouldn't have done that." Shikamaru said lazily as the clearing seemed to get darker.

"And tell me why that is." The man sneered.

"You just signed your death warrant." Shikaku's voice rang out; it was deadly calm which was never a good sign.

"No one hurts my son." It seemed like the shadows came alive and were doing an eerie dance around the clearing.

"Using my son to get to me? You honestly think I wouldn't have come up with a plan for something like this? My son is the most important thing in the world to me, I would never let anything happen to him." Shikaku's voice was coming from everywhere at once. The dancing shadows came up off the ground and started to creep around the man and Shikamaru.

Shikamaru felt the ninja wire slip away from his body and he smiled as he felt arms protectively go around him, lifting himself off the ground. He looked up to see his father looking down at him in concern and his free hand gently traced his bruising jawline. His eyes hardening even further and he looked back at the man with anger burning through his whole body. He made a single hand seal and the shadows all converged on the man, covering him completely and soon the man's movements ceased and the shadows retreated letting the body drop to the ground.

"No one hurts my son." Shikaku repeated what he said before, holding his son closer.

"Thanks Dad." Shikamaru leaned his head against his dad's neck, eyes closing.


	9. Who Likes Who Part 1

"Isn't this fun? It's been a while since we all have gotten together like this." Ino beamed at the group around her.

"I have to admit, this was a good idea." TenTen agreed looking around. The remaining of the Konoha 12 where all gathered in a clearing and two small portable BBQ's were placed in the middle of the circle of chunin's.

"So. I have a question for you Shika." Ino smirked in triumph.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru got a bad feeling in the gut of his stomach.

"What is up with you and Asuma?" Ino cackled as Shikamaru sputtered.

"What the hell Ino?" Shikamaru looked at her wide-eyed.

"I mean I have to know! You two even back in our genin days were rather close. I want to know if he taught you anything…More." Ino grinned and the others around the group started to laugh as Shikamaru's face heated up.

"He's not denying anything." Kiba howled with laughter and moved back to avoid a kick from the lazy Nara.

"What happens between me and Asuma stays between me and Asuma … Sometimes Kakashi and Kurenai on the occasion." Shikamaru grinned foxily as the whole group around him did a spit take in unison. If they were going to go down this road then Shikamaru was going to make it just as uncomfortable for them as well.

"WHAT!" Ino and Choji shouted.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura's face was going red.

"Kurenai-sensei? Oh god." Kiba buried his face in Akamaru's fur while Akamaru himself whined covering his face with his paws.

"I don't kiss and tell." Shikamaru smirked, leaning back. He was having WAY too much fun with this.

"Oh my brain hurts." TenTen put her head on Neji's shoulder.

"But I thought Asuma and Kurenai were…" Hinata said slowly and confused.

"Oh they are." Shikamaru told the Hyuga girl, leaning forward taking a piece of meat off the BBQ.

"And Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura asked, rather interested now.

"I've seen him with Iruka." Shikamaru answered truthfully.

"Kakashi and Iruka-Sensei." Sakura shook her head, holding her hand to her forehead.

"Maybe those books Kakashi keeps reading paid off after all." Kiba whispered to Shino.

"Shikamaru can vouch for that, can't you?" Ino seemed to get pass her shock of Shikamaru's revelation before.

"Don't make me repeat myself." Shikamaru said leaning back against the hill.

"I don't think I can ever look at any of the sensei's without blushing ever again." Sakura whispered to Hinata whom nodded in agreement.

"It wouldn't be horrible if you saw them as equals." Choji spoke up, seeing what Shikamaru was playing at and decided to play it along.

"Don't tell us that…" Ino let her eyes widen.

"No, they all seem to take more of a liking to Shikamaru for some reason." Choji nudged his friend who grunted, trying his hardest to keep the smile off his face at the chaos.

"Do you guys seriously think that Kakashi and Iruka…?" TenTen asked rather curious now.

"I do not think they really are together Ten." Neji smiled at his crush.

"Would you rather think about Kakashi and Gai? I mean can that rivalry really be all talk?" Ino smirked at the old Team Gai. All three plus Sakura shuddered at the mere thought.

"Now that you mention it." Kiba smirked at the other team and barked out a laugh when Neji shot him a look and Lee fell backwards.

"I vote we get off this topic right now!" TenTen shook her head rapidly.

"Agreed! I rather not think about my ex-sensei in that way thank you!" Sakura agreed.

"So Neji when are you and TenTen going to do anything about that sexual tension between you two?" Ino turned her eye towards the two on Team Gai and was rewarded with blushes and stutters.

"I mean it's not hard to see it." Ino said grinning at the weapons master.

"The passion of youth flows strongly within these two!" Lee announced proudly, not understanding what Ino was getting at.

"See Lee agrees." Sakura was getting in on this now.

"When it does finally happen, I expect all the details." Ino whispered to TenTen whose face turned beat red.

"INO!" She nudged her blonde friend harshly.

"Just saying." Ino grinned cheekily.

"So Hinata, have you seen Kiba and Shino doing anything you want to tell us about?" Ino turned her sights onto the Hyuga heiress. Shino started and Kiba's face turned as red as the marks on his face. Hinata couldn't help but giggle at her teammates reactions.

"Well…" Hinata trailed off and Kiba made an offended noise. "They do train a lot together…"

"HINATA!" Kiba shouted and Shino's eyebrow twitched.

"I knew it." Ino smirked in triumph.

"What about you Ino?" Shino asked quietly.

"Good point, I mean you and those two are quiet close and since Shika is taken… You and Choji eh?" Sakura giggled at her friend. Choji choked on some of his chips and Ino's face went bright red.

"I know you two are training together a lot more since I've been preoccupied." Shikamaru said with a smirk.

"Shikamaru!" Ino and Choji chorused.

"Just an observation." Shikamaru closed his eyes.

"You could make the Ino-Shika-Cho formation by blood…" Neji said as pay back to the blonde while TenTen started to laugh at the faces of Ino and Choji.

"I am never going to have this conversation again!" Ino crossed her arms in front of her in an X formation.

"Oi Shikamaru!" Asuma's voice called out and all the chunin's look up at see the bearded jounin coming their way.

"Ooo look who it is." Ino giggled as Shikamaru propped himself up onto his elbows.

"What's up Asuma?" Shikamaru asked.

"We were suppose to hook up tonight remember?" Asuma reminded the Nara and looked at the others as they all coughed, giggled or sputtered on their food.

"Oh and Kakashi is busy tonight so Iruka is coming instead."

Cue more coughing, giggles and sputters. Asuma raised an eyebrow but looked down at Shikamaru.

"You forgot didn't you?" Asuma asked shaking his head with a smile.

"Ino cornered me and dragged me here." Shikamaru tried to explain but just yelped as Asuma bent over and grabbed Shikamaru by the scruff of his flak jacket pulling him up and easily threw him over his shoulder.

"Excuse me, I need to borrow Shikamaru." Asuma smiled at the others.

"Take all the time you need." Choji waved his hand.

"Traitor!" Shikamaru called back as Asuma walked away with him.

"It's true!" TenTen said in awe.

"This time with Iruka-sensei!" Sakura said, her cheeks going red again.

"I can't believe it." Hinata said to Shino who just inclined his head.

"Well he did make Chunin long before any of us did…" Shino reasoned.

"I can't even believe this!" Ino shook her head but grinned. "I can't wait to get more details out of him."

"Oh Ino." Sakura shook her head with a smile on her lips.


	10. Who Likes Who Part 2

"What on earth was that all about?" Asuma asked Shikamaru once they were back on the streets of Konoha.

"Put me down and I'll tell you." Shikamaru said annoyed at being carried over Asuma's shoulder.

"Fine, fine. Don't have to get huffy about it." Asuma laughed and easily placed Shikamaru back on his feet upright. "Now explain."

"Once Iruka and Kakashi get here I will." Shikamaru said adjusting his flak jacket.

"Kakashi is coming back from a mission later tonight." Asuma repeated.

"I can wait." Shikamaru yawned.

"Don't be like that." Asuma elbowed his partner.

"I will be like that." Shikamaru huffed, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Come on, we can meet up with Iruka and maybe that he can get you to talk." Asuma smiled.

"He couldn't get me to wake up in class, what makes you think he can get me to talk now?" Shikamaru titled his head looking up at Asuma.

"Fair point." Asuma laughed.

"Where are we meeting him?" Shikamaru asked.

"My place." Asuma grinned, draping his arm over Shikamaru's shoulder pulling him into his side.

"Oh if Ino heard this." Shikamaru muttered to himself.

"What do you mean?" Asuma asked curiously.

"Again, I'll tell you when the others get here." Shikamaru said firmly as the two entered Asuma's apartment.

"Spoilsport." Asuma shook his head as the two entered the apartment and began to set up the Shogi board. The door was knocked on and Iruka entered and Shikamaru raised a hand in greeting while making his move against Asuma who made an annoyed sound.

"Already beating you senseless Asuma?" Iruka laughed taking in the game as he pulled up a cushion to sit on.

"Not just yet." Asuma said in denial.

"Take another look Asuma." Shikamaru smirked and Asuma looked more intently at the board and ran his hand through his hair.

"Damn." Asuma swore and Shikamaru smirked as Iruka laughed at the scene before him.

"When the hell is Kakashi going to get here? I want to hear what happened when I found you with the others." Asuma looked at Iruka who shrugged his shoulders.

"How should I know?" Iruka raised an eyebrow and Shikamaru smirked at the thought of what the others had discussed before.

"Okay I can't wait any longer! I want to know!" Asuma glared at his ex-student.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, I got a bit lost on the road of life." Kakashi said from his perch on the nearby windowsill.

"Liar." Iruka rolled his eyes as Kakashi settled down on a cushion next to Iruka.

"Now tell us." Asuma crossed his arms.

"Fine, Ino gathered the remaining ninja from our time in the academy for a BBQ and then she started in on talking about relationships… I may have said something about you guys." Shikamaru smirked at the others.

"…Like what?" Iruka asked, feeling like this was going to be interesting and maybe scarring.

"Well she assumed that Asuma and I were you know…" Shikamaru felt his cheek heat up. "Then I may have added to the fire by adding that sometimes Kakashi and Kurenai joined."

The jounin and chunin in the room stared at the genius chunin with wide-eyes.

"Hey, I was talking about Shogi." Shikamaru grinned. "Then they started asking about Kakashi and I mentioned that you two." He pointed at Iruka and Kakashi. "Have been seen to together, then Ino turned onto Kakashi and Gai. Finally she got onto bugging TenTen and Neji… Then Shino and Kiba and then they turned it to her and Choji. Quite amusing actually."

"Amusing?" Iruka's eyes were bugging out of his head.

"For me yeah." Shikamaru grinned cheekily.

"You little…" Asuma reached over and whacked the teen on the head and Shikamaru laughed as he ducked.

"Hey I had fun, but I kind of want to know if any of her ideas were close." Shikamaru asked. "From the silence I'm guessing that we may have been right about some things."

"Well these two." Asuma jerked his head towards Iruka and Kakashi. "Make a fine pair."

"What? Asuma!" Iruka glared at the man.

"I'll be damned." Shikamaru laughed.

"We are not together!" Iruka turned his gaze onto his ex-student. "Tell them Kakashi."

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Kakashi scratched his closed eye. "Oh Iruka I found something new we can try out from my favorite book."

"Kakashi!" Iruka shouted at the silver haired jounin.

"I knew it." Shikamaru leaned back on his hands and smirked at the others in the room. Iruka let his head fall into his hands as he groaned in annoyance and Asuma laughed loudly at the misfortune of his friends.

"So what about you Asuma? I think we all know you and Shikamaru here do more than play Shogi and cloud watch together." Kakashi said smugly, Shikamaru felt his arms give way and he found himself staring up at the ceiling.

"Well that sure got a reaction." Iruka laughed, happy the tables have turned.

"You guys are just as bad as Ino I swear." Shikamaru puffed out a breath of air.

"Like you two haven't wanted to do anything." Kakashi laughed.

"If you keep going on like this I will kill you Kakashi." Asuma looked over annoyed.

"Well, I should have known you two were more than close friends." A new voice called out and all the men looked over to see Kurenai couched at the same spot Kakashi had been before.

"Not you too Kurenai." Asuma whined.

"I have no problem with it." She smirked and Shikamaru smacked a hand over his eyes.

"I blame Ino for this." He muttered annoyed. Kakashi went on to fill Kurenai in on what Shikamaru told them about Ino's coupling theories. When told about Kiba and Shino she fell to the ground from laughing so hard.

"I should have known." Kurenai wiped a tear from her eye. "Those two are quite close now that you mention it. Oh and if you boys want to have some fun, then by all means go ahead."

"I'm going to kill that blonde for starting this." Asuma muttered annoyed, rubbing his forehead.

"Get her once more me, I don't think we can ever be seen together without them giggling." Shikamaru groaned annoyed.

"Then you should just make a ton of innuendoes whenever you are together and around them." Kurenai suggested, her eyes glinting.

"Don't forget to make innuendoes about them as well." Shikamaru added in.

"Revenge." Asuma rubbed his hands together.

"I'm still going to kill her for the fact we had to have this conversation." Shikamaru said annoyed, thinking of his own ways to get his revenge on the blonde.


End file.
